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Illinois Education Secretary Pushes Rauner's Plan To Keep Schools Open This Fall

Flickr user Brent Hoard "ECU School of Education Class Room" (CC BY 2.0)

Illinois Secretary of Education Beth Purvis is pushing Governor Bruce Rauner’s plan to make sure schools open on time this fall.

The Republican has called for sending an extra 100 million dollars to schools — the one area of the budget he has not held up in order to pass his legislative agenda.

In a conference call with reporters today, Purvis deflected questions about Rauner’s remarks this week, in which he described some Chicago Public Schools as “crumbling prisons.”

“I don’t think that now is really the time for me to expound on the governor clarifying his own statements. But again, what I think that the governor is trying to do is put forward a budget that will allow schools to open in the fall,” Purvis said.

Democrats want to change how the money is distributed. They say the way Illinois divides money among schools is the most inequitable in the country, leaving some districts to struggle while others can spend lavishly.

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